President Donald Trump is threatening to cancel entrepreneur and former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk’s federal contracts as the pair escalate their war of words that started after Musk railed against Trump’s signature legislative package.
In a stream of social media posts, Trump taunted Musk by contending “the easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.”
“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday afternoon.
Earlier Thursday, Trump downplayed the prospect of a continued partnership between himself and Musk, arguing the Tesla CEO contracted “Trump derangement syndrome” since spending almost $300 million helping him win last year’s election.
Musk’s public criticism of Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending and tax bill led to the president saying that he was “disappointed” in him before his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” he told reporters on Thursday at the White House.
Trump quipped that Musk perhaps missed the White House, noting that former employees become hostile at times.
“They love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile. I don’t know what it is. It’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome,” he said.
Shortly after Trump’s comments, Musk took to his social media platform X to assert that without him, Trump would have lost the 2024 election, with Democrats controlling the House and Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate.
“Such ingratitude,” Musk added..
Days after saying goodbye to Musk in the Oval Office, Trump claimed Musk was upset over the bill’s provisions repealing former President Joe Biden‘s electric vehicle tax credits, in addition to Trump’s decision to withdraw the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally, to be his NASA administrator.
Musk’s public criticism has centered on the bill increasing the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The White House has simultaneously criticized that score, while emphasizing the CBO’s estimate that Trump’s tariffs would reduce the deficit by $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years.
“Elon is upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles, and they’re having a hard time,” Trump said. “I know that disturbed him. He wanted somebody that he knew very well to run NASA, and I didn’t think it was appropriate. He happened to be a Democrat, like totally Democrat.”
Musk responded in real time as Trump talked to reporters, calling the fact that no oil and gas subsidies are touched in the bill “very unfair” even as he challenged Republicans to keep the electric vehicle cuts in the bill.
“Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,” he wrote. “In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful. Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.”
Musk denied a complaint from Trump that his opinion on the bill was changed after he saw it, adamant it was “never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”
Musk had previously described the “big, beautiful” bill as a “disgusting abomination” for being a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled” measure. He has also encouraged the primarying of lawmakers who support it.
Trump’s comments can be contrasted with his praise of Musk last week, when he called Musk “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced.”
“He stepped forward to put his very great talents to the service of our nation, and we appreciate it,” Trump told reporters last Friday.
REPUBLICANS CITE MUSK’S BUSINESS CONFLICTS TO DOWNPLAY TRUMP TAX BILL REBELLION
When asked if his time with Trump’s administration was worth it despite the reputational and financial repercussions, Musk responded that DOGE is “an important thing,” “a necessary thing, and “will have a good effect on the future.”
“I expect to remain a friend and an adviser, and certainly, if there’s anything the president wants me to do, I’m at the president’s service,” he said.
